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( - 3MM33 



THE POWERS OF CONGRESS 



The Constitutionality of its Acts on Reconstructi( 



ALARMING TENDENCY GF THE SEYMOUR DEMOCRACY, 



SPEECH 



OF 




I 





AT CHICAGO, ILL., AUGUST 12th, 1868. 



rUBLISHED BY THE UNION REPUBLICAN CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE, WASHINGTON. D, C. 



Mk. Chairman, Ladies akd Gentle- 
men :• The occurrence of the Presidential 
campaign calls out the American people 
to the examination of the principles and 
the measures which have marked the ad- 
ministration for the preceding term. An- 
other Presidential election is on foot — 
another gathering of the American people 
from Maine to California, from the lakes 
to the Gulf, which may now be seen in the 
United States, for the same purpose. The 
precise practical question is whether we 
shall support General Grant^or Governor 
Seymour for President of the United States; 
[cries of "Grant 1 Grant !"] and this ques- 
tion we are to settle, not as men-worship- 
pers or parasites, but by reason and judg- 
ment, and as American citizens, conscious 
of the responsibilities which rest upon us 
in this great choice. Glorious as Grant is 
in his past record, if he stood to-day— I do 
not say with the party, but upon a plat- 
form and principles detrimental to the best 



interests of the Republic— pledged to ovc 
throw all the results of the war; pledged i 
encourage and comfort rebellion, or wh 
little rebellion there is left; or, if we cou 
possibly imagine such a transformation, 
Governor Seymour stood to day on a pi., 
form which would secure us the fruits 
our victory, and which would give to ' 
lasting and permanent tranquillity, th 
there is no doubt that the American peo]' 
would, as they have for the last six yeai 
through all the trials and bloodshed of t!. 
war, support the principles which are e:.. 
bodied in their hearts, and dearastht- 
life, [great cheers,] although it would pi 
bably be equally difficult for them to det; 
mine whether they would say that the \ 
triotic Grant had left their rauks, or tb 
the unpatriotic Seymour liad left tht 
standard. But, by examining the platfoi 
upon which these respective candidat. 
stand, it will be found that each is true i 
the principles Which characterized hi: 






during the war. It will be found that 
Grant is struggling now to secure tlie fruits 
of the victories which he won, and that 
Seymour is to-day endeavoring, as far as 
it is still possible to do, to thwart the object 
which the Government had in suppressing 
the rebellion — to secure to the rebels, as 
much as possible, what they have lost by 
the result of this contest, and is pursuing 
precisely the same liueof policy to-day that 
he intrigued for during the war. 

THE DECLAKATIONS OF THE DEJIOCRATIC 
PLATFORM. 

Th3 two political parties "have made 
up," as the lawyers would saj'-, "the issues, 
and sent them down to the country for 
trial." One convention in Chfcago and 
the other in New York have not only se- 
lected their candidates, their standard-bear- 
ers, but they have promulgated their plat- I 
forms, or their prineiples. There is no 
doubt that both parties ara ssriousiy in 
dead earnest in the is--ues which they have 
made. We get some little light as to the j 
platform of the Democratic Convention j 
from the speech which was made by Wade ! 
Hampton after his riuuru to his constit'j- 
ents. He says that he was on the Com- ; 
mittee on Resolutions. He says that he ! 
had prepared a set for himself, but found j 
that ihey couldn't b i adopter!. He listened j 
■to those which had been prepared by others, i 
and the Democrats on that committee came j 
around him and assured hiui that they were 
with him, to the utmost of his wishes; that 
they would do all in their power to give the 
South back " the Constitution as it was" 
before the war, and he contented himself 
with simply moving an amendment to one 
resolution which declared the governments 
of the States, which had been reconstructed 
under the auspices and patronage of Con- 
gress, to be unconstitutional, revolutionary, 
and void. He says this announcement was 
met with enthusiastic cheers by the com- 
mittee, and the Democrats pledged them- 
selves to him that they would go to the ut- 
most of their declaration. What is the 
utmost of that declaration? We hear so 
much said about what is constitutional and 
unconstitutional that we are in danger of 
losing all the significance of that declaration 
of the Democratic party. If those govern- 
ments which are now existing in the ten 
reconstructed States of the South are un- 



constitutional and vaid, and if these Demo 
crats mean to carry that declaration into 
practical operation, the result is that these 
governments are to be swept away. Another 
revolution is to sweep over the South ; 
anarchy and bloodshed, and another four 
years of wasting and ruin, is to follow as 
the result of that revolution accomplished 
in the South. But the Democrats have 
cloaked this matter under the plausible pre- 
text that these acts of Congress are uncon- 
stitutional, and the Republican party, in its 
convention has espoused and adopted and 
promised to support the reconstruction 
policy of Congress. The Democrats have 
appealed to the reverence our people feel 
for the sacred Instrument, the Constitution, 
to cloak and cover their design of revolu- 
tion again in the South, and thus it throws 
fairly upon us the burden of vindicating 
the constitutionality of the reconstruction 
policy of Congress. ISTow, I am aware how 
difficult, and how uoiiiteresting it is to dls- 
CUS3 such a question in a popular ag^t^nce 
like this, in the open air, amid the thunder- 
ing and confusion of a great city like 
Chicago. I know how easy it is for a pub- 
lic speaker to spend his apportioned thirty 
minutes or hour in cracking jokes which 
will create a good fueling in the crowd and 
react upon the speaker. But the misery of 
our Republican spsakers is that the mem- 
bers of the Republican party all have heads 
on them. [Laughter and npplause. ' A 
voice— "Bully ! ihat's so !"] They all 
think, and read, and reason, [a voice — 
"That's the differfnce,"] and they demand 
of any speaker who is to occupy fifteen 
minutes of their time that he shall discuss 
some principle, shall come to some doc- 
trine in the issues of the war. 

CONSTITUTIOlxALITY OP THE ACTION OF 
CONGRESS. 

The only real issue made by the parties; 
the only doctrinal difference in the two 
platforms which arises to anything like 
first-class importance, is that which relates 
to the constitutionality of the reconstruc- 
tion policy of Congress. This little squab- 
ble about paying off our debts— this little 
question of universal suffrage, and a few 
other things, very important themselves, 
are questions which relate to the adminis- 
tration of the Government after you have 
g9t a government to be administered. But 



tbe great question rises above tliat— wliicli 
involves peace and war, which touches the 
life of the nation, and touchss our exist- 
ence as one people under the Constitution 
of the United States; and I propose this 
evening, because I have been requested to 
do so, and because I think it important in 
itself, to discuss for a short time, as well as 
I am able, under all the difficulties of this 
situation, the cjuestion of the constitution- 
ality of these reconstruction laws. I can- 
not make such an argument funny nor 
amusing, but I will try to state clearly and 
distinctly the grounds upon which we de- 
fend that legislation. To do this we must 
inquire into" the fads of the case. What 
is the situation of the things to which Con- 
gress was compelled to apply its reconstruc- 
tion policy ? But, to save words, let us 
take the State of Georgia as illustratiog 
the whole principle, for what is true of one 
State is of course true of two or three out 
of all. Georgia was one of the original 
thirteen States, and entered this Union by 
adopting a constitution. She had a State 
government organized in harmony with 
the Constitution of the United States, un- 
der a State constitution which required all 
her officers to swear to support the Consti- 
tution of the United States. That govern- 
ment continued in existence, as we all 
know, down to 1860 or 1801, when the ma- 
jcrity of hc-r people, having determined to 
throw olT their allegiance to the Govern- 
ment of the United States, and levy war, if 
need be, to make that declaration good, 
and to make Georgia an independent na- 
tion, organized a new State government in 
Georgia, and that government went into 
practical operation, and w^as supported by 
the people during the entire continuance 
of the war. Now, if those leaders, after 
they determined to levy this war, had called 
ficonvention and framed a nev/ State gov- 
ernment, with new officers, and had levied 
war upon the old State government of 
Georgia and eupplanted it, and then had 
entered into the Southern confederacy and 
levied war upon the United States, there 
would be no difJjreacj of opinion in this 
asseition that the government which had 
come to exist by that proceeding in Georgia 
was no government in the Union of the 
United States. And yet, in a legal, consti- 
tutional sense, the people of Georgia did 
what was precisely equivalent to this. They 
calkd a constitutional convention, and 
they took the old constitutional Stite gov- 
ernment, changing it in every essential par- 
ticular which was essential to its existence 
as a State government. Instead of requir- 
ing its officers to swear to support the Con- 
stitution of the United States, they require 
them to swear to overthrow that Constitu- 
tion. They severed in every pariiculir 
every cord and bond which bound them as 
a Slate or community to the Constitution 
and Uuion of the United States. By so 



doing they created, in loyal contemplation, 
a new government, as much as they would 
in the case which I have supposed of their 
calling a convention and framing a new 
government with new officers. The gov- 
ernment which they created by taking the 
old constitution and moulding it to their 
views, was no government which had been 
in the Union from the adoption of the Con- 
stitution. It was no constitutional govern- 
ment in any sense, but only an organiza- 
tion in deadly antagonism to the Constitu- 
tion of the United States, and under that 
constitution the people of Georgia organ- 
ized and gave their voluntary allegiance 
to that State government, went into the 
Southern confederacy and levied war upon 
the United States. 

THE SOUTHERN STATE GOVERNMENTS. 

"Well, after a while, the war came out 
iust as every man who believes God sits on 
His throne, and prefers truth to falsehood, 
justice to injustice, liberty to slavery, 
might have predicted it would come out. 
It came out with the triumph of all good 
things over all bad things. [Loud ap- 
plause.] And our armies swept every- 
thing before them, and demolished every 
citadel and stronghold of treason and re- 
bellion, and they planted our flag in old 
and time -honored places after sweeping 
away the rebel armies, and after sweeping 
the rebel States they sv,-ept away every- 
thing that was part and parcel of rebellion, 
every instrumentality, every agency, and 
every means by which traitors had sought 
to levy war upon the Gover anient; and 
these revoluti)nary Sate government?. 
were the principal agency for that war 
Now, then, what was the consequence r' 
They hid hid a g:>vernment in the Unioru 
from the organization of thj Union down 
to 13S0. Tney had destroyed that. They 
had set up in its place a revolutionary 
illegal,.uuc3nstitutional government, whie . 
had beeo in existeuc^ until Grant swc; ' 
them away. , Then they will be witbo^ . 
any State govcrnmont whatever. The ol 1 
government ttiey ha;l ue>troyed, and tl. - 
new government we hid destroyed. Tni 
were without any government. [Applause. ? 
Now, what was their condition ? The so.i 
of Georgia was siill a pin of the dominion 
of the United States; fae people of Georg: 
were still ci'izsas of the United Statt-- 
They had thrown off no part of the du 
wliich they owed to tlie Union. T,. 
Union hid lost or forfeited no part of; - 
power over thcaii. They were, still fu 
ther, so many square miles, and so mab 
Amcricm citizens, witliout a local goven 
menr. Now, luanifostly, the first step af • 
the war ended was for some one to cstM 
lish a local government there. This bria. 
us to the quesdon — who shall do th . ■ 
The Democrats say: "The i)eople of ' 
State shall do it,'" The Democrats .- ., 



•-i the people of Georgia bar! got their 
.iid iu iu makiug govcrnmentg; they bad 
.'•erimented upon the subject [derisive 
igbtcr;] tbey Jiad a peculiai' and special 
• owledge. [Laughter.] They bad de- 

ilished the old Union State governments, 

I tbey bad created a revolutionary gov- 

.meut; tbey bad seen that go to the wall; 

Y bad built a Southern Confederacy, 
. lover that tbey flung out its flaunting 

,■ in rivalry with the Star-splangled Bau- 
of America; and tbey should form this 

ae government for Georgia. 

THE TWO THEORIES OP SECESSION. 

'Tow, there arc two theories, one or the 
ler of which must be true. The Southern 
cry of the situation is that the edict of 
session passed by Georgia, took her out 

■ the Union and out of the limits ot our 
dcral dominions. Upon this theory, wben 

■ conquered that State her soil and her 
iple were as subject to the absolute will 
1 he conqueror as would be the soil and 
pie on conquered Mexico or any other 
ign power subdued by our army. If this 
i their condition, thcnit wasnot forthem 
'y whether they would have a State gov- 
uient or not; it was not for them to say 

. Hber tbey would ever belong to the 
ion or not as an independent State. It 
i for us to say. It was for the conqueror 
lictate terms to the conquered — not for 
conquered to dictate terms to the con- 
ror. ["You are right."] Then, upon 
r theory, Georgia bad no more right to 
blisb a State government, to come back 
> the Union, than the people of Mexico 
a right to demand admission into the 
.on when Scott planted bis standard on 
halls of the Montezumag. Again, the 

.I'jr theory is— the Northern theory is— 

■ ; constituiioual theory is — that the ordi- 
ice of secession was a nullity; that it 
i no proteclion to the rebels of 
■■ South; and, although we chose, as 

bad a right to do, to exercise as 

inst them belligerent rights—the rights 

i power of a sovereign over bis 

l4 citizens — yet they acquired by the 

inance of secession no privilege and no 

Lection. What is the result of that doc- 

le? The result of that doctrine is that 

; n the war ended tbey were so many 

dued and conquered traitors, taken in 

crime, taken with the blood upon their 

ijaents. [Sensation.] They have forfeited 

, liberty, property, civil government, 

. everything that belongs to a man. 

i.at applause; cries of "That's so !" 

I have got iU" ] Upon this theory, very 

.ily, the people of Georgia had no right 

rorm a government and say it bad a 

It to come back into tb.e Union. Now, 

/n't care wiiich ther)ry the Democrats 

..; for the purposes of this argument, be- 

: ise either one cms their own throat from 

' to ear. [Greatapphiuse aud laughter.] 



There is, then, an end to this pretext that 
Georgia could settle this question. Rebels 
may say when war shall begin, where it 
shall begin, bow it shall begin, how it shall 
be managed; but the Government must say 
how it shall end, [cheers,] and what shall 
be the condition of the conquered. ["That's 
the idea." Applause.] It is about time, 
after hundreds and thousands of lives have 
been sacrificed — after v/e have baptized and 
fertilized that rebel soil with the best blood 
of the land — it is about time tb it some man 
bad the courage and the nerve, and the 
good sense, to stand up and talk the truth 
upon this subject. [Sensation, applause, 
and cheers.] It is clear, then, that Georgia 
could not reconstruct a government with- 
out our consent. Now, the only party 
interested is the Government of the United 
States. They, as rebel States, could 
not do it. The General Government must 
do it. 

POWER TO RESTORE THE STATE GOVERN- 
MENTS. 

And, then, we come to consider the fur- 
ther question: How? By what depart- 
ment, and through what department and 
agency ohall the United States act to the 
end of establishing these State governments? 
And this brings us to the only question 
upon which any of the departments of the 
Government have ever heid difiereut opin- 
ions. The Supreme Court of the United 
Slates, the President of the United States, 
the Congress of the United States, have all 
concurred in saying that the result of the 
war was to leave Georgia without any civil 
government, and that the people of Geor- 
gia were powlerlcss as a government in the 
place of the one which they had destroyed. 
The Supreme Court of the United States 
decided v/hat necessarily leads to this con- 
clusion, in the prize cases decided in 1SG2, 
when they decided that the people of Geor- 
gia, without reference to their private con- 
duct, were to be regarded as public ene- 
mies, but, although they were to be regarded 
as public enemies, they were not the less 
traitors to the Government of the United 
States. 

ASSUMPTION BY MR. JOHNSOlY. 

Andrew Johnson had taken up this sub- 
ject, aud treated it with the fullness and 
the wisdom that is peculiar to himself. He 
bad said, in his proclamalion, which he 
issued immediately after the sarrouder of 
Lee and Johnson, that this reijellion had, 
in its progress, swept away all civil gov- 
ernment in the rebel Slates, and that the 
Government of the United States owed it 
as a duty to that section of the country to 
establish local Stale governments there, 
and he, Andrew Johnson, (being the 
United States,) undertook to do it. And 
he did it— "in a horn." [Cries of "And 
he did it with a horn."] Yes, both. I 
accept the amendment, ile did it both 



ways. The President of the United State?, 
as such, clearly had no authority over the 
subject. Our people, wlieH they framed 
oiir Government, were jealous of the ex- 
ecutive power — that is, the kingly power. 
Our forefathers were Englishmen. They 
remembered well the contests that had 
stained the soil of Eagland with blood 
in the struggle to wrest rights 
and principles from the Crown and 
deposit them for safe me and prac- 
tical exercise with the Parliament of 
England, and when they framed our Con- 
stitution they determined to limit and cir- 
cumscribe and bind down this ever-en- 
croaching Executive power within very 
narrow limits. There is no danger of op- 
pression of the people by Congress. The 
danger is always of oppression and usurpa- 
tioncoming from that power which is cen- 
tralized in one man's bosom. There is no 
danger that Congress, rent asunder as it is, 
and^must ever be, by cliques and factions, 
will ever consent to oppress the people, be- 
cause they can never agree among them- 
selves which clique shall be the oppressors. 
Mr. Fessendeu will have his little circle of 
friends ; Judge Trumbull will have his ; 
Judge Howe will have his. And so there 
are a dozen cliques in the Senate, and the 
danger is that they won't be able to get to- 
gether and do some things that ought to be 
done some time. [Great laughter and ap- 
plause.] Not so with the President of the 
United State.'?. That great rash act of his 
which brought on his impeachment — the 
removal of the Secretary of War, for no of- 
fence except for differing from him in opin- 
ion, and diiTeriug from him in this particular, 
that the Secretary of War thought fit to act 
according to his own convictions, accord- 
ing to the Constitution, and with the party 
and with the friencT-s who placed him in 
power — that rash act of the Presi- 
dent of the United States was the 
result of no deliberation with anybody. 
No Cabinet officer knew anythicg about it. 
Neither Seward nor his chum, Randall, 
ever dreamed that the thing was to be done. 
It was the result of a censultation between 
Andrew Johnson and his demijohn alone, 
[great applause and laughter,] and, when 
the purpose was formed, it was executed by 
an order written at his own table at night. 
No other man had to be got to sign it, no 
other ambitious clique had to be conciliated. 
[Applause.] This I have alluded to only 
to illustrate the fact and the theory that 
freedom is in no danger of overthrow from 
a Congress, or a Parliament, or any other 
multitudinous deliberative body. It is 
always in d.iuger of encroachment and 
overthrow from power which is consoli- 
dated and may be exercised upon the volition 
of a siugle man. So our fathers, when they 
framed the Constitution, laid upon that 
ofiice the firmest and the strongest bond. 
The President of the United States shall be 



the Commander-in-Chief of the army and 
navy;be may grant pardons and reprieves;he 
may receive ambassadors and other foreign 
ministers; he may commission ofiicers of 
the United States when properly appointed, 
and he shall take care that the laws be 
faithfully executed. These are the powers 
which are vested in the President, indepen- 
dent of Congress and ccoperation with 
Congress. Now, it is manifest that none 
of these powers include that of reconstruct- 
ing a State government, and when Andi-ew 
Johnson undertook to do so he committed 
a usurpation upon the rights of the people, 
and upon the Constitution of the United 
States, which would have brought a mon- 
arch of England to the block. There 
was no pretence or color of law in his 
whole proceedings. He called a constitu- 
tional convention to frame governments, 
declared the qualification of voters, and the 
qualifications of those who should be elected 
to the convention. But suppose those voters 
who were not qualified — suppose those came 
to the convenHon who were not entitled to 
a seat under his proclamation — what was 
the consequence? He could not punish, for 
the simple reason that he could not make 
law. His whole proceedings were unau- 
thorized, and necessarily and consequently 
void. But as to the power of the President, 
I need not push a step further or discuss it 
at length, because the Democrats them- 
selves concede he has no power; and as far 
as a discussion of this question as a part of 
our platform is concerned, it is sufficient to 
rest it there. They admit this point. 

THE POWERS OP CONGRESS. 

The cjuestion then recurs, where is the 
power of the General Government to frame 
governments in the^e rdbel States ? And, 
in the firtt place, the general proposition 
may be laid down, that if the power is in 
the Government of the United Stated at all, 
and is not conferred by express words upon 
the President, or some other officer of the 
Government, then it is surely vested in 
Congress; because the Constitution pro- 
vides that Congress shall have the power to 
make all laws necessary and proper to carry 
into execution the power conferred upon 
Congress, and'all other powers conferred 
upon the United States, or any department 
or oflicer thereof; consequently, if the 
power of framing these State governments 
reposes in the General Government, and not 
in the people of Georgia, and, as it is con- 
ceded, every man can settle the quesii'on 
for himself for thirty minutes' reading, that 
the Constitution does not locate this power 
in the President, or any other specific offi- 
cer, or in the courts, then it follows neces- 
sarily that this power of the Government is 
to be exercised through the power of Con- 
gress, to make laws to carry that power 
into execution. But I do not propose to 
rest here upon this mere general pro- 



6 



position, althougli it is entirely conclu- 
sive. There are other provisions of the Con- 
stitution, and other distinct grounds upon 
which this power may be safely rested. 
The Constitution i)rovides that Congress 
may admit "new States." Now, what is 
the meaning of admitting a " new State," 
and what is a State to be admitted ? Half 
the confusion that the public labor under 
regarding this subject has arisen from the 
fact that the word ''State" in the Constitu- 
tion is used with various meanings. Some- 
times it is used in a geographical sense, 
and sometimes in a political sense. For 
instance, when the Constitution provides 
that any man who commits a crime shall 
be tried in the "State" v/here it was com- 
mitted, it means a geographical State, called 
the State of New York, or of Georgia, «&g. 
When it says a "State" may be a party to 
any suit ia the Supreme Court of the 
United S;ites, it means a " State govern- 
ment," or a corporation, v/hich is created 
for that purpose. Take, for instance, Illi- 
nois. In a geographical sense, Illinois 
was always in ths Union ; her soil was 
always Federal dominion; her people were 
always citizens of the United States. But 
the Stats of Illinois, which was admitted 
into the Union by an act of Congress, 
means the corporation or State government 
which v/as organized by the people for 
that purpose. Therefore, v/hen the Con- 
stitution says that Congress shall provide 
for the admission of "new States," it means 
"new State governments." 

WHAT IS A NSW STATE •* 

The Democrats say, "This is conceded, 
but Georgia is not a new State. Georgia was 
one of the original thirteen, one of the old 
States, and clearly that provision of the 
Constitution does not apply to your case." 
But, my friend, I have already sii.l that to 
admit a State means to admit a State gov- 
ernment, and when the rebels of the South 
destroyed the State government which had 
1 eea in the Union, and put in its place a 
rebel State government which never was 
in the Union, and wht-n the armies of the 
United States swept that way and left 
Georgia without any government whf.t 
ever, then, when a goverment shall be 
organized there, to be admitted again into 
the Union and to be restored to the Fed- 
eral rights, that government thus formed 
is a new government, as much as though 
the people of Georgia had hever had a gov- 
ernment whatever. What ditference can 
it; make, for instance, with this power ot 
Congress to admit a State government and 
to frame a government, whether the people 
who are t« be admitted have once had a 
government which they have destroyed, 
or whether they never had a government. 
For instance, we have west of the K)cky 
mountains so many square miles of ter- 
ritorj-, and so many citizens of the 
United States born in the country. 



We say, "Those people are our peo 
pie, that soil is our soil, and they are en 
titled to our protection." The Govern 
ment of the United States establishes j 
Territorial government there and protect.- 
them until such time as they come to i 
proper condition to be admitted as a State 
in full communion, into the Union. Now 
this power and jurisdiction of Congress tc 
do this thing grows out of this fact, simply 
— that if our citizens are dwelling in a com 
pact community upon our soil, without lo 
cal government, (it is cf no consequence 
how that state of things is brought about— 
whether it is because they moved there and 
never had a government, or because they 
have been th^re and once had a govern- 
ment and destroyed it;) if they are our 
people, dwelling upon our territory, and 
have no government, the United Si;ate3 ii 
bound to put a civil government there. 

[A.t this point the grand torchli2;ht pro- 
cession filed into the square, and the 
speaker suspended his remarks for a few 
moments, resuming as follows:] 

I have forgotten precisely where I was 
addressing the world bo fore the rest ot 
mankind came in; but I believe I had gotr 
through with saying what I proposed to iiij 
reference to the power of Congress to Kv 
mib new States; and claimed tliat thatco- 
ered the entire ground, and gave Congress 
the constitutional power to reconstruct a 
State government for Georgia. 

A KEPUBLICATT F0E3I OP G0VER:>5XE:sT. 

Suppose, for the sake of argument, that 
we admit what the Democrats claim, that 
Georgia never was out of the Union, and 
that her territory and people remaining in 
the Union — as we conceded they always 
did, because they could not get out— that 
therefore she is to be regarded as a StatQ oi 
the Union. The Constitution provides that 
the United States shall guarantee to every 
trtate a republican form of government. 
Now, if Georgia was no, a State of the 
Union she was a State v.'ithout any gov- 
ernment whatever; consequently she had 
no republican form of State government; 
and Congress v.'-as called upon in its ca- 
pacity of legislating and execuUug that 
power to take the proper steps to put a r; 
publican form of State government in 
Georgia. This guarantee of the Constitu- 
tion was intended to secure to the. Union 
a republican State government for such 
State, without reference to the wishes ot 
the i)eople of a particular State. If New 
York, for in3tan<;c, to-morrow should call 
a convention, and change her form of gov- 
ernment from a repiibiiCLin to a monarchical 
government, it would be the duty of Congress 
to interfere, because the Coustiiutioa makes 
it the duty of the United Slates to see to 
it that there is a republican form of govern- 
ment for them in New York ; aud if h^ 
should call a convention to abolish the form 
of government, and resolve herself b aci 



;nto lipr original condition, so much soil, 
md so many people without any govern- 
ment whatever, Congress, in this case, 
would be compelled to take particular steps 
fo put a State government there for the 
State of New York, because the Constitu- 
;ion has imposed this duty upon the Gene- 
ral Government ; and the Constitution has 
provided that Congress shaU pass all laws 
necessary to execute all the powers which 
•,he Constitution has conferred upon the 
Cnited States. This has been so frequently 
:lecided by the Supreme Court of the United 
States — so clearly has it beeu announced by 
Chief Justice Gardner, especially in the 
Rhode Island case, as it is called, reported 
;n the 7th of Howard, where he distinctly 
[ays down the doctrine that it is the pro- 
rinco of Congress, and Congress alone, to 
Jetermine whether the form of government 
,8 republican. It must also have the power 
;o say whether there is a government there 
It all, because without so doing it cannot de- 
;ermine whether a particular form of govern- 
ment is republican or not— and that this 
3uty rests upon Congress— and when it acts 
n the premises its decision Is binding upon 
jvery part of the Government, and cannot 
be questioned in court. This doctrine is so 
ilearly and fully decided that there is no 
aecessity of argument beyond referring you 
.0 those decisions. In two or three cases 
hey have been before the Supreme Court, 
md have been settled beyond dispute, and 
apon these three grounds that I have men- 
oioned; first, that the power is clearly iu 
Lhe Congress of the United States, and is 
Qot conferred specifically upon any other 
iepartment; secondly, the power in Con- 
gress to admit new State governments 
covers this State, and authorizes Congress 
CO organize a government for the purpose 
5f being admitted; and thirdly, the duty 
which the Constitution imposes upon Con- 
gress to take care that at all times there 
Shall be a republican State govern- 
ment for each State — from that ground 
ilone the power is clearly deducible 
— from these three facts — from these 
three separate sources we derive the 
power of Congress to organize State gov- 
ernments for the rebellious States, which 
were left at the end of the war without form 
of government whatever. I have proposed 
Ms evening to confine myself strictly to the 
oonstitutioual power of Congress, and shull 
'.eave for another occasion, perhaps at 
{Jalena, on Friday evening, to discuss the 
other independent question, of how wisely 
and how well Congress has exercised that 
constitutional power. This is a distinct 
Bubject — too full to be spoken of here to- 
aigtit uuder the circumstances, and at the 
foot Ota speech. I shallleave the subject 
Df reconstruction, then, with this imper- 
fect discussion of the constitutional power 
of Congress. That is the only issue which 
the Democratic platform makes on the sub- 



ject. They do not question the details of 
their acts. They struck the death blow to 
the system by saying that the w^hole pro- 
ceedings are unconstitutional, and therefore 
void. If I have succeeded in convincing 
you that Congress has the coustitulional 
power, my object has been accomplished, 
and that was all I intended to do when I 
came upon the platform. 

A CONCLUDING WOKDTO THE FENIANS. 

I have been invited to come here to Chi- 
cago and address the Republican Fenian 
Club of this State. As the campaign is 
thickening at homo, and I shall probably 
be detained there until November, and it 
is doubtful whether I shall have the oppor- 
tunity of coming here again, I shall say a 
few words to the Feniiins. I am not as 
drunk as Blair was when he said, "Finne- 
gans, lam with you," [laughter,] but I 
have a few words which I wish to say to 
you on the subject of Fenian*, and upon 
several of your duties as Fenians to the 
Government of the United States Now, 
it is too late in the day, it is too far ad- 
vanced in the history of the world, for any 
man or set of men to hope to accomplish 
great results, unless they have some theory, 
some philosophy of the subject which can 
stand an examination and be countenanced 
by the world. What is the philosophy of 
Fcnianism? Suppose a Fenian were asked 
to-night here why Ireland should be free, 
and v;hy Irishmen should govern Ireland. 
He could not give any other answer to that 
question than to saj'' that every nation 
should be free, and that the freemen of 
every nation should control its destiny. 
That is the philosophy of Fenian- 
ism, if it has any philosophy. That 
is the corner-stone of the claim which 
Ireland makes to-day for an independent 
government for Ireland. Now, the ques- 
tion is, what can any Irishman do in the 
Uniteel States to further that end, which is 
so near his heart? and if I were to give him 
a word of caution to-night, without charg- 
ing him one cent for the advice, I would 
tell him not to make a raid upon Canada. 
The only result of that would be to put Pat 
in jail, and not free Ireland. There is, 
nevertheless, much that he may accomplish. 
He may accomplish it by framiag a public 
sentiment for the world with that great party 
iu the United States to day which is pledged 
in all its policy and all its measures to ad- 
vance and faithfully apply the doctrines of 
the Declaration of Independence. Such 
has become the intercourse of the world, 
by means of the telegraph, that the senti- 
ment of one nation is known and felt in 
another. The voice of tha nition is heard 
all round the globe. If you can unite here 
with that party and give it an ascendency; 
if you can strengthen its hands; if you 
can contribute to make the Declaration 
of Independence a 'practical fact; then 



you have done what a man may do, and 
alL that a man may do, to form the public 
sentiment of the world; and when the 
public sentiment of the world is formed 
then you will see its practical fruits being 
borne all over the world. If a mean, dirty 
scalla\Tag comes into a community to live, 
one or two things always follows ; he cither 
has to reform and conform to the condition 
of things around him, or he has to leave. 
Now nations are assuming toward each 
other precisely that relation, and the opin- 
ion of one nation upon the others is grow- 
ing to be precisely what the opinion of one 
individual is upon another. Join your 
hands, then, and join your voices with the 
party in the United States which is pledged 
to see every man free. There are cei tain 
principles to be ruled by if you are to reach 
any practical results. If you want to have 
sunlight in Chicago you must consent to 
have sunlight in Springfield. If you 
want to be fiee yourself you must 
consent that every one shall be free. 
If you want to see Ireland free you 
must consent that England shall be free, and 
Germany free, and France free, and every 
other nation as free as yourselves are here 
in the United States. If you would exer- 
cise this power, as citizens of the United 
States, in shaping public sentiment, you 



must act practically in the things you can 
reach; you must make liberty a practical 
fact all around you; and whether the man 
is a German or a Frenchman, an English- 
man or a Yank-ee, an Indian or a negro, 
whatever his rights are before the law, you 
must respect them. In this way you are 
doing something for the down -trod den all 
over the world. You are uniting your 
voices to the chorus of the nation that will 
be heard far over the ocean, in every strong- 
hold and in every dungeon of despotism. 
[Great applause. ] That is your privilege; 
that is your duty, good, honest Fenians. 
[Loud applause, and cries of "Go on."] 
It is one thing for you to say you are will- 
ing for me to go on, and another for me to 
have the strength. I am in very much the 
condition that General Cass was in when 
he was invited to discuss the Oak Harbor 
improvements — there is too much noise 
and confusion. I cannot talk down this 
whole tumultuous multitude. I cannot 
answer these rockets. I cannot, in other 
words, talk down all creation. The multi- 
tude is too great for the speaker, and I am 
completely exhausted, and you will have to 
excuse me. 

The speaker retired amid great applause 
and cheers. 



Chronicle Print. 



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